The present invention relates to processing of materials, and more particularly to plasma processing.
Plasma processing is widely used to modify surface properties of materials. Thus, plasma is used in fabrication of integrated circuits to perform deposition, etch, cleaning, and rapid thermal anneal. Plasma-based surface processes are also used for hardening of surgical instruments and machine tools, and are used in aerospace, automotive, steel, biomedical, and toxic waste management industries. See, for example, M. A. Lieberman and A. J. Lichtenberg, "Principles of Plasma Discharges and Materials Processing" (1994), page 1.
A common goal in a plasma-based process design is uniform treatment of the target surface (i.e. the surface treated with plasma). It is desirable to develop systems in which the uniform processing is facilitated.
In some systems, the target article and the plasma move relative to each other, and it is desirable to facilitate precise control of this relative movement. Further, it is desirable to reduce stresses on the target articles thus reducing the possibility of damaging the target articles.
It is also desirable to increase the productivity of plasma processing systems. A plasma processing system is idle when it is being loaded with articles to be processed or when already processed articles are being unloaded. It is desirable to reduce the idle time of the plasma system.